Stress variatrions over the surat basin 4946 publications journal of geophysical research. Csg well location 4 queenslands petroleum and coal seam gas. Together with earlier data from the eastern part of the jurassic surat basin, our results show a broad, but systematic, rotation of s hmax azimuths in this part of eastern australia as well as systematic changes in stress state wi. Annual gas production from this basin is estimated at 100 bcf which is about 90% of total australian cbm production. Regional geology 1970 burdekin river spatial data format. Clarencemoreton basin in northeastern new south wales figure 1 by rajabi et al. A new palaeogeographic synthesis of the bowen basin of central queensland christopher r.
Queensland murraydarling basin deep sediments of the. The best prospect of cbm production lies in the bowen basin queensland and the sydney basin new south wales. Detailed deep 3d geological knowledge has become an important component of many types of exploration and resource modelling. The exploration of coalbed methane in the northern bowen. Experimental coal samples the coal samples studied were from cores of 30 separate drill holes across the bowen basin. This major coalproducing region contains one of the worlds largest deposits of bituminous coal. Upper permian through lower triassic reservoirs of the bowen basin. Is it the geological environment, engineering skill or. Geological setting the bowen basin is an elongate, backarc to foreland, late carboniferous to middle triassic, nnqsse trending basin which spans across 160,000 km 2 of eastern queensland and northern new south wales green, 1997. The bowen basin contains the largest coal reserves in australia. Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of bowen and surat. The sydney basin coal seams are deeper and gassier with a gas content of 350700 ft 3 t 1020 m 3 t and, as.
We present regional in situ stress analyses based on publicly available log and pressure data from coal seam gas developments in the permian bowen basin, australia. Bbugs bowen basin underground geotechnical society. Pramod thakur, in advanced reservoir and production engineering for coal bed methane, 2017. Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of bowen and surat basin successions, taroom region, queensland the taroom area of the bowen and surat basins fig. The polygons in this series are a digital representation of the distribution or extent of geological units within the area. The bowen basin geologists group bbgg is a not for profit organisation run by volunteers from across industry, research and consulting. The geology of queensland can be subdivided into several regions with different histories.
Vertical drilling and hydrofracking is unlikely to be very productive in the bowen basin because of its shallow depth. The stratigraphic significance of paralic deposits in the. Comparing basin centred gas prospectivity in the bowen surat basin queensland, australia with the deep basin of western canada and the piceance basin of utah brad j. In situ stress distribution and mechanical stratigraphy in. The economically significant seams in the bowen basin fall into four age groups, two in the lower permian and two in the upper permian. It formed as part of the new england orogen during the early permian to middle triassic and is the northern part of a larger basin system that also includes the gunnedah and sydney basins in new. The basin had 48 operational coal mines in august 2011. In 2006, 60% of australias exported coking coal came out of the bowen basin. Some coal was also produced at the burrum coalfields and on the darling downs. Bureau of mineral resources, australia, bulletin 166. The basin, which is of controversial origin, is preserved as a northsouth trending, asymmetrical syncline bounded in places by faults.
Australia is a continent situated on the indoaustralian plate. The galilee basin is part of a larger carboniferous to midtriassic basin system that contains the cooper basin, situated towards the southwest of the galilee basin, and the bowen basin to the east. Stratigraphic architecture and coal character of late. Triassic volcanics and sediments whose depositional history is also complex and in many places has controlled the subsequent structural development. The bbgg also host the bowen basin symposium once every five years. The bowen basin contains almost all of the states hard coking coal, and is the most important coalbearing province in queensland. In mid2011, evidence of a continuing mining boom was provided by state government figures which showed more than 50 mining projects are under consideration in the bowen basin. Comparing basincentred gas prospectivity in the bowensurat. The lithostratigraphy of the area is shown in table 7. Structural and geomechanical analysis of naturally fractured. The basin contains the largest coal reserves in australia. Pdf biogenic methane production from bowen basin coal waste. Karakteristik maseral dan variasi vitrinit reflektan pada batubara peringkat tinggi, south walker creek, cekungan bowen, australia.
The basin contains much of the known permian coal resources in queensland including virtually all of the known mineable prime coking coal. The latest estimate of cbm in these basins is about 7 tcf. Open cut and underground coal mines are located in the north of the basin. Influence of basement structures on in situ stresses over. A thesis submitted to the school of earth sciences for the degree of doctor of philosophy in geology.
Queensland geology series open data certificate awarded. Coal beds and tuff horizons were used as stratigraphic markers, supported by chemostratigraphy and age dating. Influence of basement structures on in situ stresses over the. Keywords coal, deposits, geological, australasian, setting disciplines. It has a maximum sediment thickness of about 10 000 metres concentrated in two northtrending depocentres, the taroom trough to the east and. The bowen basin is a structurally complex area occupied by a thick sequence of permian. The permotriassic bowen basin developed during the final stages of the tasman orogenic phase in eastern australia. Synthetic seismogram analysis from northern central bowen basin locations s, t. The study area for this project lies in between the northern bowen basin and the sydney basin, and to the west of the brookebarnett et al. Based on chemical properties depth km based on physical properties depth km crust 40 lithosphere cool, rigid 100 asthenosphere hot, plastic 350 mantle 2883 mesosphere hot but strong due to high pressure 2883 outer core liquid outer core liquid nife inner core 6370. The geology of australia includes virtually all known rock types and from all geological time periods spanning over 3. Geometry of the bowen basin the present geometry of the bowen basin is northsouth elongate in the southern half, becoming more nnwtrending in the north.
Arrows bowen basin tenure is the subject of both production wells in pls and production. Queensland murraydarling basin deep sediments of the bowen. Bowen basin coal seams have been extensively drilled, with over 500 wells. Research open access novel ecosystems created by coal. Geological formations of the bowen basin are mainly comprised of alternating layers of sandstones, shale, tuff, siltstones and mudstones from the permian to triassic sediments formed 252 to 541 million years ago with a thickness extending below 9000 m ogia, 2016. The ns trending taroom trough marks the zone of thickest bowen and surat basin sedimentary cover, which supposedly overlaps the junction between the lachlan, thomson, and new england orogens. Methane capacities of bowen basin coals related to coal. In 2010, nearly all the mines in the basin were affected by record flooding.
The polygons in this dataset are a digital representation of the distribution. The sandstones of the early triassic nonmarine rewan group in the southern bowen basin represent a potential reservoir for hydrocarbons. Robert logan jack was a queensland government geologist who originally reported coal deposits in the basin in 1878. Wells drilled in eastern australia since jan 2010 source ihs database.
Regional geology 1985 bowen basin spatial data format. The paleozoic mount carlton deposit, bowen basin, northeast. Commercial exploitation of bowen basin coal began at blair athol in the 1890s. Comparisons between these various data sources allowed the discrimination of the nature of the observed lineament sets and the time of their development. Bowen basin aimed at thorough characterisation of natural fracture. The local geology of the area is presented in figure 7. Coal deposition in the galilee basin did not commence until late in the lower per mian and persisted into the upper permian. Petrography and clay mineralogy of volcanoclastic sandstones.
The arenites are cemented by abundant authigenic quartz, carbonates and clay minerals. Regional scale gravity modelling is an effective and fast way to gain geological understanding of large scale structures like the bowen basin. Regional geology the bowen basin is an nnwtrending, elongate, and asymmetrical sedimentary basin covering an area of 200,000 km2 in eastern queensland. Results corroborate the general subdivisions of these different coal measures relative to. Individual drill holes intersected up to eight coal seams and seam depths ranged from 200 to m. The bowen basin is partly overlaid by the surat basin. This central queensland area is between latitudes 250 and 260 sand longitudes 1490 and 1500 30e, within the mundubbera and taroom sheet areas. The bbgg meet quarterly at different mine sites and hold a 1day meeting that consists of topical presentations followed by a mine site tour. Pdf late permian plant megafossils from the bowen basin. The basin developed as a shallow platform depression following approximately 30 ma of uplift, exposure, and nondeposition that eroded sediments and volcanics of the underlying bowen and gunnedah basins exon, 1976. Current interest in the bowen basin for geothermal exploration highlights the need for a complete basin scale model which is. Bowen and surat basins, clarencemoreton basin, sydney basin, gunnedah basin and other minor onshore basins, qld, nsw and nt, canberra, bureau of resource sciences, australian petroleum accumulations.
Underground water impact report for the bowen basin project area. Queensland is now the largest producer of coal in australia. In situ stress distribution and mechanical stratigraphy in the bowen and surat basins, queensland, australia may 2017 geological society london special publications 4581. Underground water impact report for the surat cumulative management area, department of natural resources and mines, september 2016 i contents. At the time, the main coalproducing area was the west moreton coalfields. Tectonic evolution of the bowen basin, eastern queensland. The galilee basin is a large inland geological basin in the western queensland region of australia. It was not until 1973, when bembric 1973k et subdivide al.
Comparing basincentred gas prospectivity in the bowen. The thomson orogen occurs in the central and southern parts of queensland, but is. The data provide an interpretation of the extent of the rock units and the. It has a maximum sediment thickness of about 10 000 metres concentrated in two northtrending depocentres, the taroom trough to the east and the denison trough to the west. Surface mining of coal can involve extensive footwall slopes parallel to shallow to moderately dipping coal measures strata. The geology of queensland is divided into three main structural divisions.
Most of the basin s open cut and underground coal mines are located in the north. Bowen basin geologists group geological society of australia. The northern bowen basin has a very large resource of coalseam methane gasinplace 6 tcf. It was named for the bowen river, itself named after queenslands first governor, sir. Also, bordering a large sec tion of the east flank, is the dawson tectonic zone, where the beds are tightly folded and faulting is intense. Along the east coast is a complex of palaezoic to cainozoic rocks while much of the rest of the state is covered by cretaceous and cainozoic rocks. The results of petrographic analysis show a dual provenance basinfill pattern cratonicvolcanic. Montgomerie bowen, gunnedah and surat basins biozonation and stratigraphy, 1997 chart 10 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 5 140 145.
The ornamental snake is a small reptile native to the bowen basin region. Recent exploration for new targets has highlighted potential for tight gas in the deeper sections of the bowen basin, though further evaluation is required. Maceral characteristics and vitrinite reflectance variation of the high rank coals, south walker creek, bowen basin, australia. Bowen basin are overlain by a veneer of unconsolidated quaternary alluvium and colluvium, poorly consolidated tertiary sediments and, in places, remnants of tertiary basalt flows. This deformation initiated basin bounding fault systems fig.
The 80,000 km2 bowen basin geological formation contains australias largest and most lucrative coal reserves. The bowen basin case is one of several cases both in australia and internationally that has sought to use litigation to develop strategies to combat climate change. Conclusions 1 for bowen basin coals, each increase of 1 in tem perature over the range 1070 was associated with 7 a reduction in methane capacity of 0. In this study, the interpretation of deep borehole data table 2 and seismic lines from the eastern part of the bowen basin were used. Coal geology group and bowen basin geologists group, brisbane, pp. Underground water impact report for the surat cumulative. Together with earlier data from the eastern part of the jurassic surat basin, our results show a broad, but systematic, rotation of s hmax azimuths in this part of eastern.
Most existing groundwater models that claim to address aquifer connectivity via. Coal seam gas is also found along a broad fairway in the walloon coal measures of the surat basin. The influence of coalmine geology on seismic data quality. The maceral analysis shows that the coals in the fair hill formation and middle main seams. The foreland, early permian to middle triassic bowen basin of eastern queensland occupies about 160 000km 2, the southern half of which is covered by the surat basin. Operations have been suspended at the site until further notice.
Figure 3 illustrates the conceptual layering of aquifers in the bowen basin area in the qmdbd. The bowen basin coalfields contains the largest coal reserves in australia. There are two main deopocentres in the bowen basin. Bowen basin csg area operati g surat basin bowen basin polaris u nd er v lopm t arrow energy other rail road 0 20 40 kilometres santos qld gas company originconocophillips peat operating figure 4. The basin has considerable economic value as a source of coal, natural gas and precious metals. Jun 01, 2000 the sandstones of the early triassic nonmarine rewan group in the southern bowen basin represent a potential reservoir for hydrocarbons. The majority of australias brown coal reserves are located and mined in victoria with most used for electricity generation.
The results of petrographic analysis show a dual provenance basin fill pattern. The bowen basin covers an area of over 60,000 square kilometres in central queensland running from collinsville to theodore. Structure of the bowen basin, queensland, australia ausimm. Bbugs is the bowen basin underground geotechnical society based in the bowen basin in queensland, australia. More than 6,000 boreholes were compiled to develop a consistent regional scale stratigraphic framework for the permian rangal, baralaba and bandana coal measures cms within the bowen basin.
Pdf compositional variation and palaeoenvironment of the. Structural analysis indicates that the northeastern margin was. Queensland geology series datasets open data portal. They are mainly lithic in nature, with a large proportion of volcanic rock fragments and contain quartz grains of variable size and an authigenic clay matrix. Influence of coalmine geology on seismic data quality peters and hearn aseg 15th geophysical conference and exhibition, august 2001, brisbane. The gas is pipeline quality, being 9899% methane with traces of carbon dioxide and higher hydrocarbons.
Footwall failure mechanisms typically invoke beddingparallel defects but also require either the existence of flatter structures, which crosscut bedding, or require breakout through the rock mass to allow failure surfaces to emerge. This resource has produced many millions of tonnes of thermal and metallurgical. This study examined the structures of the bowen basin in central queensland, australia, by a series of lineament analyses. A precambrian basement is found in the north west and cape york regions. It was named for the bowen river, itself named after queenslands first governor, sir george bowen. Great artesian basin a major groundwater basin, the surat geological basin and the linked bowen and galilee geological basins of which the latter three have significant coal seam gas resources. Pdf permian nonmarine strata in the southern bowen basin. The lower permian and early upper permian coalfields of. Surat basin lessons learnt by project track successes and challenges for each area future challenges. The geology of the bowen and galilee basin coalfields ausimm. These mines supplied mostly thermal steaming coal to a domestic market. The area around collinsville was first explored for resources in the 1920s. Pdf biogenic methane production from bowen basin coal. Ports at hay point, queensland and gladstone provide access for coal to export markets.
Bowen basin coal wast e materials, international journal of coal geology 2016, doi. Coal in this area was formed during the early permian to middle triassic geoscience australia 20 with coal seams up to 16 m thick. Sep 15, 2019 large scale coal exploration began in the bowen basin in the 1960s. There was a combined population of 41,973 people in the area in 2001. Regional geology 2000 townsville hinterland spatial data format.
It has been running for over 30 years and has a great history and general guidelines click here. In the present study, some of the us relations are compared with those observed for the bowen basin coals investigated. The galilee basin covers a total area of approximately 247,000 km 2. The structure of the north west flank of the bowen and the east flank of the galilee basin is essentially simple, but in the remainder of the basin doming and faulting complicate the structure.
Geological structural controls on stability of footwall. Bbugs is a society where geotechnical engineers can share experience in a friendly environment. Anyone with an interest in bowen basin geology in particular, and coal geology in general is welcome and membership is free. Expression of interest servicepersons northern bowen basin, boilermaker, construction supervisor and more on. The crm is the second component of the bowen basin coal growth project bbcg project. Maceral characteristics and vitrinite reflectance variation.
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